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A paper accepted in Nature Chemistry!

We present a new concept for the fabrication of up to 1μm long polymer fibres on insulating substrates. The novelty of our approach is that first, the chosen dimaleimide molecules perform a chain-like (and not a step-like) growth via a radical polymerization, second, that the polymerization is initiated from a two-dimensional gas phase rather than from an intermediate self-assembled structure, and third, that the cations of the chosen alkali-halide substrate interact with the molecule’s oxygen atoms in such a way that both, surface-induced and UV-assisted initiation of the polymerization are facilitated. This innovative approach is now accepted for publication in Nature Chemistry (05/30/2018).

This article result from the collaboration of Frederic CHERIOUX with C. Loppacher in IMN2P (Marseille) and M. B Watkins (University of Lincoln, UK).